jellyfish girl

beautiful artwork by Katsumi Asano

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Here are some shots of the fishermen village I have spent a few days in. It is a remote place in the Danube Delta, one famous among tourists who are looking for a non-mainstream and peaceful seaside vacation, amateur fishers and photographers. An electronic music festival and an independent film festival take place there each year during summer and have made it more popular for tourists.

There is no other place I can think of, that can get me to living so presently every moment than Sf. Gheorghe in the Danube Delta. It has been three years since I have last been here. It's incredibly peaceful and I manage to forget about anything else when I am there. I actually feel separated from the rest of the world, which is why the nickname of the village, "the end of the world" seems more than appropriate to me. There may be phones and TVs now, but to buy a magazine, one would have to head over to the post office and the boats coming from the big town (There is no other way of getting there) would not even ship bread daily, let alone newspapers. I noticed more cars this year (maybe less than 10 in the whole village, though), which is a bit annoying, but I could still see people riding their horses.

We usually live with a local family, and enjoy local home cooked meals. It initially took me some time to get used to not having a proper bathroom inside the house and showering with sun heaten water from a tank. The schedule was pretty much identical every day: During breakfast I would watch 'Meercat Manor' on Animal Planet or Discovery Channel's 'How It's Made', then we would spend some hours in the morning at the beach, I would have a couple of hours of sleep in the afternoon, a late afternoon walk or boat trip on some river channels (I'm done with fishing :) and finally, after dinner, we would all watch a movie at the open air theater that was established for the film festival. By 22:30 I would be in bed. I actually had the luxury of being able to turn off my cell phone (I would not be able to do that if there would be the possibility of any relevant emergency).

I would honestly have no objection to doing this throughout the year. I would not miss work, loud music, busy streets, people I have to interact with that are not my friends, my cell phone, I could even get used to not having internet. I was an incerdibly free person for 9 days and I hope I can hold on to that feeling to fuel me for the next months. Knowing I've got my place there and I can always choose to go back there, sure is a comforting thought.

time to recharge

A small village on finest sand. A sunny place drowned in reed and purple fields. A place of millions of birds in motion. A place of wild horses with a sad fate and cattle that like to bathe in the Black Sea. A place of warm greetings from strangers. A place of occasional silent boats in an architecture of river channels that local fishermen know like the back of their palms. A place of the most dramatic cloud formations, sunrises and sunsets. A place so far from the rest of the world that it can only be reached on a ship on certain days of the week.

I'll be heading home, to the place that has been holding my heart for years: Sf. Gheorghe in the Danube Delta.

perspectives

Photo by gzi24◎歌無岸

We all share the same eyes. And we struggle, have desires and obsessions and anxieties and insecurities.

And we are sad and/or desperate and live

from one day to the other.

Or, if not, we kid ourselves and die

with the illusion that there must have been a reason.

And in the end, what is it all for? When we are honest to ourselves, we all miss seeing through the eyes of the child we once were. Why did we have to trade them?

there's no such thing as jellyfish

interesting and beautiful video from the Monterey Bay Aquarium Research Institute on jelly-like creatures.

via nerdcore

iron

I absolutely love the black and white, slow motion video of "Iron" by Yoann Lemoine aka Woodkid. Lemoine is French, 27 years old and amazingly talented in a number of fields (photography, film, illustration, music). The clip was directed by him and the amazing cinematography is by Mathieu Plainfosse. I just love the characters, their motion and the overall fierceness conveyed, as well as the way how it all visually complements the song! Enjoy:

Woodkid - Iron from WOODKID on Vimeo.

via artschoolvets

james pan's jellyfish series

Do check out the amazing jellyfish photography series by James Giovanni Pan:

via das kfmw